Placket closer



Patented Nov. 30, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PLAGKET CLOSER Viole't'Burger and'Julia. Smith, NeWYork, N; Y.

Application October'fi, 1941,-Serial :No. 413,878

.1 Claim.

This invention relates to garment fasteners, and has particular reference to improvements inplacket closers for dresses and other gai merits.

Generally speaking, the object of the invention is to provide a placket closer which is composed of pivotally connected strips or links of any suitable thin, flat, flexible material and which, therefore, is of exceptionally low production cost; which may readily and easily be embodied in a garment; which may readily and easily be manipulated to open and close the placket; which insures "a neat closing of the placket, and which possesses all necessary flexibility to conform readily to the contour of the body of the person wearing the garment, and also to permit all normal body movements as when walking, sitting, arising, bending and the like, without imposing undue stress on the garment or affecting the closing of the placket or producing any feeling of stiffness or discomfort.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, which will become more fully apparent as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same'consists in a placket closer embodying the novel features of construction, combination and arrangement-of parts as will-be hereinafter'more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawing and defined in the appended claim.

In the accompanying drawing, wherein like characters of reference denote corresponding parts in the different views:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the waist por tionof a dress showing the improved placket closer'embodied in the dress and closing the placket.

Fig. 2 is an elevation looking from the inner side of the garment and showing the placket closer on an enlarged scale and' holding the placket closed.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged cross section on the line 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is an elevation of the placket closer removed from the garment and shown in a position corresponding to an open position of the placket; and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective illustrating a special form of strip material which may be used in the production of the placket closer.

Referring to the drawing in detail, it will be observed-by particular reference to Fig. 4 that the present placket closer is of very simple construction in that it primarily comprises simply four links ID of thin, flat material pivotally connected together in end to end relationship.

These "links may be of bone, meta'lorany other preferably low-cost, flexible material, and they are, or may be, duplicates of oneanother. "Moreover, they may be pivotally connected together by hollow rivets H, as shown, or in any-other suitable, inexpensive manner. Therefore, the closer is, or may be, of very low productioncost.

The links H] are divided into two sets or pairs designated as A andB, respectively, theset or pair A comprising the links designated as a, a, and the set'or pair B comprising the links desi nated as b, b. At adjacent ends the linksa, a are disposed in overlapping relationship and pivotally connected together by a rivet H, as indicated at 0, while likewise the links -b,-bat-adjacent ends are disposed in overlappingrelationship and pivotally connected together by a rivet H, as indicated at Similarly corresponding links a and 'b of the two sets-or pairs A and B are disposed in overlapping relationship at their ends and pivotally connected together by rivets H, as indicated at e and 1, respectively. Thus, the closer comprises what maybe considered as two pairs of toggle levers which may be swung between a closed position in which they are disposed in overlying, straightline relationship to each other, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and an open position in which the pivots c and d thereof are spaced apart and the links collectively form a diamond-shaped figure, as illustrated in Fig. 4.

The links a and b are of sufficient "width so that they are not bendable in the planes thereof, but they are sufiiciently thin and flexible 'so that they may readily be flexed or'bent in directions at right angles to their plane.

'The closer may be embodied in a garment in any suitable manner, but essentially one of the sets or pairs of the links A or B is fastened to the material of the garment along'one edge of the placket opening 0 in the garment, and the other'set or pair of said links is fastened to the material of the garment along the other edge of the placket opening therein. 'Thus, by swinging the links 10 to the position shown in 'Figs. 1 and 2, the'placket obviously will be closed, while by swinging said links to a position such as shown in Fig. 4, the placket obviously will be opened.

Usually a placket opening is formed by interrupting a seam, and usually, too, a-seam is formed by joining together two marginal portions of the material of agarmentatpoints spaced inwardly from their free edges, leaving strip-like marginal portions of the material free and loose at the inner side of the garment along and to either side of the seam. In this connection a seam such as described is designated in Figs. 1 and 2 as S and is interrupted as indicated at s, s to form the placket opening 0, while in Fig. 2 the free, interior marginal portions of the material G of the garment to either side of the seam S are designated as l2.

One simple, practical manner of embodying the present placket closer in a garment having a seam as described is to place one of the two sets or pairs A or B of the links to at the inner side of the material of the garment along one edge of the placket opening beneath the contiguous free marginal portion it of the garment material; to place the other set or pair of said links at the inner side of the material of the garment along the other edge of the placket opening be neath the other contiguous free marginal portion I2 of the garment material, and then to sew, as indicated at I3, or otherwise fasten the said free marginal portions l2, E2 to the garment material in covering relationship to the two sets or pairs A and B of the links it, so that one set or pair of said links is contained in a pocket of the garment material along one edge of the placket opening 0 and the other set or pair of said links is contained in a pocket along the other edge of said placket opening. Alternatively, pieces of material separate from the material or the garment may be employed to provide pockets along the two edges of the placket opening to contain the two sets or pairs of thelinks lll,respectively, or, as aforesaid, the two sets or pairs of said links may be secured to the garment material, one along one side and the other along the other side of the placket opening 0 therein, in any other suitable manner. In any event, the closer, when in its closed, straight position illustrated in Fig. 2 is approximately as long as the placket opening 0 and preferably is suitably fastened at its upper and lower ends or pivot points e and f to the garment at the upper and the lower ends, respectively, of the placket opening 0 therein, as, for example, by sewing through the hollow rivets H at the pivots e and as indicated at M, so that when the placket is closed the garment material at the placket opening is maintained vertically distended and smooth and against pucker- I ing.

Any suitable means, such as one or more hooks and eyes, snap fasteners, or the like, fastened to corresponding links iii of the two sets or pairs A and B may be employed to secure said sets or pairs of links in placket closing position, and in this connection and by of example, the links a, a of the set or pair A are illustrated in the present instance as having eye elements ll: fastened thereto adjacent to their point e of pivotal connection with each other, and the links I), b of the set or pair 18 are illustrated as having hooks It fastened thereto adjacent to their point :1 of pivotal connection with each other for co" operation with the eyes E5.

The hooks and eyes it, it or equivalent securing means may be fastened to the links I5 in any suitable manner, but conveniently they may be sewed thereto, and to facilitate their attachment in this manner said links may be provided with suitably located thread accommodating openings it. As will be understood, of course, the closer may be provided with only a single fastener or any desired plurality of fasteners arranged at any desired point, or points.

Figure 5 of the drawing illustrates that, if desired, the links iii may have transverse serrations or flutes It to increase their flexibility. Obviously, such serrations or flutes may be provided on either or both faces of said links.

While the two sets of links of the present closer have been illustrated in the drawing as comprising two links each, each set may comprise three or more links. In any event, each set comprises at least tWo links, and since the links are disposed as shown, flatly relative to the garment and relative to the body of the wearer of the garment, and since the axes of the pivotal connections between said links are at right angles to the planes thereof, it is apparent that the inherent flexibility of the links in directions at right angles to their planes permits them readily to conform to the contour of the body of the wearer, of the garment and that the pivotal connections between said links, especially the pivots c and d permit the links to swing relative to each other in their planes to, in turn, freely permit such normal bending movements of the body as in walking, sitting, arising and the like, without imposing r any undue stress on the garment or producing any feeling of stiffness or discomfort.

Without further description, it is believed that the features and advantages of the invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and it will of course be understood that changes in the form, proportion and minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claim.

We claim:

A device for opening and closing garment plackets formed in a garment seam, said device extending above and below the waistline of the garment and bounded on all sides and at its ends by the cloth of the garment, comprising, right and left hand pairs of superimposed links of thin flat form sustaining flexible material non-bendable in the flat planes of th links, pivots conmeeting the inner ends of each pair of links, said pivots having their axes disposed at right angles to the planes of the overlapped inner ends of each pair of links, other pivots permanently connesting the outer overlapped ends of each pair of links and secured to the cloth of the garment at the ends of the placket, said pivots also having their axes disposed at right angles to the planes of the overlapped outer ends of each pair of links. whereby, when the right hand pair of links is sewed in one half of the seam and the left hand pair of links are sewed in the other half of the seam and the pivots permanently connecting the outer ends of each pair of links are anchored to opposite closed ends of the placket, the said pair oi links will assum a diamondshaped relation when the placket is open to provide slack in the cloth of the garment at the waistline and will assume an overlapping rectilinear relation when the placket is closed thereby to take up said slack by stretching the material at the zone of the placket into a flat invisible seam, and cooperating means respectively carried by the inner ends of the links of each pair for holding the links in overlying registering relation,

JULIA SMITH. VIOLET BURGER. 

